Upon returning to Berkeley after spring break, I came to an unfortunate realization: that it was that time of the semester again. Perhaps I’d survived the first two months of this term, but somehow, April still managed to loom ahead of me. That couldn’t be a good sign — in fact, for me, it translated into five more midterm exams, a major project, another paper and countless applications I didn’t even want to think about.
So, naturally, I decided that there was only one thing to do: avoid the problem entirely by mentally retreating to a better time.
The procrastinator in me was pleased with this idea and immediately began scrolling through old pictures. Happy memories came flooding back: baking cookies during winter break, seeing old friends for New Year’s, the novelty of a new semester, the excitement of karaoke night for my sorority’s bid day …
And then, I ran into this:
Well, apparently, I looked to the wrong place for peace of mind and an escape from reality, as bad grammar is antithetical to both of those things. Back to reality it is.
“Could of”? Really? For as long as I can remember, this particular written error has occurred with outrageous frequency. Someone somewhere is probably insisting that he “would of done it” if he had time. Elsewhere, excuses are likely being made: “I could of done better.”
The crime against language here is simple: These individuals have erroneously substituted “of” for “have.” In actuality, one would have done something. One could have done better. The contractions “would’ve” or “could’ve” are equally correct.
Unfortunately, the error continues to propagate, but it’s easy to see why. In spoken language, “could of” and “could have” sound painfully identical and therefore are likely to translate incorrectly into the written word. Misspellings and incorrect usage often occur as a result of auditory ambiguity, after all. Furthermore, as an individual exposed to an abundance of karaoke in her 20 years, I can certainly vouch for the fact that karaoke lyrics often need a good copy edit. In the end, it’s almost understandable …
But then again, why am I making excuses for the individual responsible for this atrocity? That person could have done better.